Oral Surgery in Yuba City, CA

Surgical Dentistry in Sutter and Yuba Counties

Specialist care has always been thin on the ground up here. A patient in Yuba City who needed an oral surgeon was typically looking at a drive to Sacramento or Chico, a wait of several weeks, and a consultation that started from scratch because the new office did not have the imaging or the history.

That gap is the reason a lot of treatment in this region gets postponed until it becomes urgent. An infected tooth gets antibiotics instead of a surgical extraction. A missing molar stays missing. Thrive Dental Yuba City now provides oral and maxillofacial surgery on site so the distance stops being the deciding factor.

Your Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon

Dr. Roger K. Lau, DDS trained at the UCLA School of Dentistry, completed dual oral and maxillofacial surgery internships at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and finished a four-year residency at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh including a chief resident year. His training covers dental implants, corrective jaw procedures, sleep apnea surgery, and facial trauma.

He works alongside Dr. Singh and the rest of the team at our Yuba City office, so the surgical and restorative sides of your treatment are planned together rather than negotiated between two practices.

Long-Standing Tooth Loss and What It Does to Bone

The single most common thing we see in patients who have gone years without local surgical access is bone loss. Jawbone exists to support teeth. Remove a tooth and the bone that held it starts resorbing within months, and it keeps going. After five or ten years there is often not enough height or width left to place an implant without rebuilding the site first.

That is fixable. A bone graft restores the volume. A sinus lift addresses the upper back jaw, where the maxillary sinus sits low and limits available height. These add time to the treatment plan rather than ruling out the plan, which is what many patients have been told elsewhere.

If you are having a tooth taken out now, ridge preservation is a small graft placed into the socket at the same appointment. It costs far less than rebuilding the site later.

Full-Arch Treatment for Advanced Tooth Loss

Multi-generational families are the norm in this region, and we see a lot of patients in their sixties and seventies who are managing failing dentition rather than a single missing tooth. Loose teeth, a partial that no longer fits, a lower denture that will not stay put.

Full-arch implant solutions and All-on-4 anchor a fixed set of teeth to a small number of implants. The surgical phase is the hard part, and it now happens here. So does the restorative work that follows. For patients who prefer a removable option, implant-retained dentures give a conventional denture something to lock onto.

Wisdom Teeth

Third molars are evaluated in the late teens and early twenties, when roots are still forming and bone is less dense. We take digital imaging, look at where each tooth sits relative to the nerve and the sinus, and recommend removal only when the findings justify it. Families in Live Oak, Gridley, and Marysville no longer need to plan a Sacramento trip around it.

Surgical Extractions and Infection

Teeth broken below the gum line, decayed past saving, or fused to the bone need a surgical approach rather than forceps. Handled properly, the procedure protects the bone you will need for a future replacement.

An infected tooth managed with repeated courses of antibiotics is a delay, not a treatment. The infection has a source, and the source needs to come out or be treated with a root canal. Waiting risks spreading infection into surrounding bone and tissue.

Oral Pathology and Biopsy

Sores that do not heal within two weeks, unexplained lumps, and white or red patches should be looked at. When a lesion warrants investigation, a biopsy gives a definitive answer. This works alongside the oral cancer screening every patient receives at a comprehensive exam. Detection timing changes outcomes substantially with oral cancer, and having biopsy capability locally removes one more reason to put it off.

Serving the Northern Sacramento Valley

Our office at 1170 Live Oak Blvd serves Yuba City, Live Oak, Marysville, Gridley, Sutter, and Plumas Lake. See our Yuba City areas we serve page for more.

Book an Oral Surgery Consultation in Yuba City

The first appointment is an evaluation. Medical history, exam, imaging, and a written treatment plan with an anesthesia recommendation and a cost estimate checked against your benefits. Nothing gets scheduled before you have that.

Call (530) 671-9555 or schedule online.